Delgrossos/Lakemont/Hershey 8/16

scraperguy99

Saturday, August 18, 2007 3:47 PM

Got to Delgrossos for the 11 am opening...went to get my wristband and was greeted by a very friendly staff who thanked me for visiting their park.

Walking into the park I was taken away by how pretty everything looked, nice layout, lots of trees and everything is kept in very good condition....the only ride that looked in need of a little paint was the Round-Up.

Next grabbed some pretty good pizza right inside the park near the Wacky Worm kiddie coaster. Pretty good value on the food, pretty good quality too. Then I grabbed my Wacky Worm credit and it was time to get down to some serious riding....

Crazy Mouse and Sea Dragon were down in the morning so we rode some flats first starting with an enclosed vintage Caterpillar called Space Odysey. We then hit the Flying Bobs, Casino, Round-Up, Dodgems, Paratrooper, Train...then the Mouse opened so we grabbed a ride on it finally. These spinning mice are really fun, Kennywood's dark-ride take on it is superb, but the outdoor was really good too, better than a standard mouse at least.

After the Mouse we rode the Scrambler, Carousel and re-rode the Flying Bobs which they run on a pretty good cycle, the thing really hauls in reverse! This was actualy my first true Flying Bobs, though I've been on plenty of other versions of the ride type....so it was pretty cool knowing that this is a ride that Dorney and Hershey both had back in the day.

We got in line for another Crazy Mouse ride, but unfortunatly it got shut-down again as we were waiting, so we rode the Ferris Wheel (my first carny type wheel..lol)...Then we decided to take a look in the gift shop and when we came out they were opening the Sea Dragon.

I was looking forward to the Sea Dragon(even though I rode one twice the day before in Ocean City, NJ)...I was so disapointed by how Dorney had taimed their's recently, so I needed a fix knowing there is no longer a great swinging boat in my area(Dorney's sucks now, Hershey's Pirat usually runs on a pretty lousy cycle as well, and I just don't care much for Zamperla's version which Knoebels has)...anyway we rode, 2nd from back, very good cycle, full swing height and some good free swings, pretty equal to how Dorney's use to run.

Now happy with my Sea Dragon fix we decided to head to Lakemont for an hour....in contrast to Delgrossos Lakemont wasn't quite as nicely kept, looks like it could use a bunch of trees and some paint on alot of the rides. We rode Leap the Dips, then the train which actually wasn't bad, it was longer than the one at Delgrossos. Then I grabbed my credit on the Toboggan....ugh...then the Skyliner which wasn't bad, but not one of the best woodies I've ridden....then a stop in a gift shop and we were back on the road. Oddly one section where the Antique cars were was actualy landscaped and looked kept up well....too bad they don't have the funding to get the rest of the park into more presentable shape.

I dropped my buddy off in Palmyra then headed up the road to stop in at Hershey before I headed home...

Headed to the gates and to SDL, rode twice...then walked up the hill to Flying Falcon, also rode twice....headed back to the gate and back on the road within an hour.

Overall good trip, Delgrossos is really nice and I would love to get back again sometime soon.

Barry A Kumpf

Saturday, August 18, 2007 8:15 PM

Dump is pretty strong. We greet tens of thousands of guests every year who say that dollar for dollar, Lakemont Park is the best amusement park anywhere. Also, I get to a lot of amusement parks and I have been in many $49.95 parks that don't look as good as ours. Sorry you didn't enjoy your visit.

Agent Johnson

Jim S.

Sunday, August 19, 2007 1:01 AM

What brand is DelGrosso's Sea Dragon? I thought it was a Zamperla (and it seems to have the downtime that Zamperla rides have been having lately.)

Any of Lakemont's coasters beat the Wacky Worm. (Yes, even the Toboggan.) Lakemont's train is on a level with Knoebel's. DelGrosso's train is just stupid. DelGrosso's does have excellent food though, and the Crazy Mouse is the cheapest one you can ride anywhere. I can't comment on the not-even-under-construction-yet loop/screw coaster because I've never ridden that model, but I can't say anything particularly good about Arrow in general.

Brother Dave

Sunday, August 19, 2007 1:17 AM

Lakemont may not be as 'flashy' as some of the larger parks, but, it is certainly decent for what it is. Besides, where else can you ride all day for under $10? Skyliner is an underated gem of a wood coaster with some great airtime on the first drop, especially in the front and back seats and a wicked mid-course turn. (It also offers a great view of the nearby baseball stadium!) And where else can you ride the world's oldest wooden coaster, which is also the last side-friction coaster still operating in North America and a National Historic Landmark? Lakemont also is home to some older, rare flats, like the Twister and Skydiver. I've always enjoyed my visits to Lakemont, as well as DelGrossos. The Altoona area is very lucky to have two reasonably priced parks like these in operation!

depotrat

Sunday, August 19, 2007 7:06 AM

Lakemont is not flashy or world class but "dump" is not fair. We were there right after DelGrossos last August. We found it clean, the employees friendly, the rides running, and the lines reasonable. Definitly not a dump. Now, it isn't on our list to go back anytime soon because we got on their coasters but as we left and headed for the next park we certainly didn't have any bad feelings for the park and dump was not in the description.

They don't allow adults on their small coaster so we missed out on that credit but other than that it was all good and the price was right.

dexter

Sunday, August 19, 2007 10:23 AM

Yep, I'll give some Lakemont love too. Lakemont is not a "dump". For what it is, Lakemont is really great. If you go there expecting Kennywood or Idlewild, you may end up disappointed. If you go there knowing that Lakemont is an inexpensive park catering to the locals, you might like it. The park gets a lot of business in the summer months.

The land the park sets on used to be covered with trees before it became Boyertown. You can tell that they are trying to make the park beautiful again. Young trees are getting mature.

The layout of the park seems a little empty. I wish they would plant some trees between the kiddyland and the strip of rides from Tilt-o-Whirl to Octopus. Blocking view between these two areas might make this area of the park more attractive.

I feel that the park has a lot of potential. They just need a few more attractions. Give us a Log flume, a dark ride (a nice traditional non-carnival one), and maybe a modern steel coaster, and Lakemont would be on the map.

Arthur Bahl

Sunday, August 19, 2007 12:19 PM

I have to put a good word in for Lakemont as well. This park is worth visiting even if you are just interested in the wooden coasters. Skyliner is a great coaster for its size and LTD is certainly unique.

There are some areas of the park that are starting to show some promise appearance wise especially the antique auto ride. My own feeling is that Lakemont has to pick and choose between landscaping and ride maintainence and to their credit, they focus more on the latter.

It might be that after such beautiful parks as Kennywood, Idlewild, DelGrossos, Hershey, and Knoebels, this park does seem a bit dumpy because of all the unlandscaped open space. That shouldn't keep you from coming here, however. There are definitely some things worth riding here.

scraperguy99

Sorry for comming off so rough, I edited the original post a bit, to be more constructive rather than sounding like I'm bashing Lakemont.

I do know a little about the history and failed expansion plans by a previous owner that is largly to blame for the lack of trees and empty feeling of the park.

And yeah, I did work for Dorney, but no longer....that place is certainly run poorly especially in the past 3 years and since Cedar Fair took over the park...Lakemont is a small park that's trying, Dorney is just run by corporate officers who don't care about anything to do with park history or the local and old-time lovers of the old park that use to be....I appologize for bashing Lakemont, but don't feel so bad about bashing Dorney.

Agent Johnson

Sunday, August 19, 2007 9:43 PM

Amen. Lakemont improves quietly every year. Its sad about the trees, but you really can't compare the two of them. For industry folks, they are very different parks.

Del Grossos is family operated, and of course has the edge in food. The park, which is much smaller in land area, lies beneath a canopy of trees. Many rides are hidden, which gives the 'wow' factor a boost.

DG caters to a larger local base, with the parking lot attractions like golf, go-carts, and the waterpark. They also do a heavy picnic/group business with the county.

Down the street, we see a much different philosophy. RAS Developement owns the park, and has hired a very competent GM, who spends 6 open to close shifts in the park. His word is what the ownership takes. Barry has also built a hardworking group of managers around him for the future.

Lakemont, while having a great admission gate area, has no 'wow' factor, since the first you see is a golf course and picnic pavillions.

However, LP has improved every season. Many tress have been planted (I even paid $300 for one) and LP has grown internally. They now operated the games and arcade in-house, and lobbied the county to build a free parking garage on site. (Cedar Point, did Erie County do that for you?).

Lakemont has the entire foodservice leased out, which, of course will bring the issues of good food vs. not so good food. LP also has a large portion of county wide group business, but....much of the family visitors are not local. Maryland brings lots of visitors, who wish for the amusement park daily outing, for a family price.

DG never really rocked the boat in Altoona, but Boyertown sure did. Current LP staff have done a great service to accomodate what ever will happen at LP in the future. What will happen is that with the Altoona Curve, there is the possibility of increased foot traffic. With that, plus larger group facilities, and plenty of land to build on, you will see a different LP in 20 years. Better? Yes. With the same mission of group picnics? Yes. Maybe even a few locals may come out and see what they have been missing.

Barry A Kumpf

Monday, August 20, 2007 8:30 AM

Four (4) things:

First I would like to thank scraperguy99 for revising his original post. I would also like to invite him to return as my guest to our facility and allow for me to give him the "nickel tour" to see some of the things that we are working on that he may have overlooked.

Second... dexter .....you should be in the business! You hit the nail on the head with respect to the areas of improvement that are needed at our facility!

Third: I just want to thank everyone who took the time to express their thoughts regarding Lakemont Park.

Lastly. Agent Johnson probably knows as much about Lakemont Park as anyone I know. The only thing that you had wrong in your thread was the name of the company that ownds the park is RAD not RAS and for what it's worth, I'm "down" to about 100 hours a week now! LOL